The president of the Assembly of Ecuador, Henry Kronfle, questioned on Wednesday the legislative initiative that seeks to remove the Ecuadorian foreign minister as responsible for the Police raid on Mexican embassy in April, in view of the process that both countries are hearing at the International Court of Justice in The Hague regarding that incident.
The president of the Ecuadorian Assembly, Henry Kronfle, said on Wednesday that it would be dangerous to sanction Foreign Minister Gabriela Sommerfeld, in the legislative body, through a political trial that could end with her dismissal because it would “weaken” the position of this country in the lawsuit brought against him by Mexico at the International Court of Justice in The Hague.
The impeachment trial that is being discussed in the National Assembly is promoted by the Citizen Revolution, led by former President Rafael Correa (2007-2017), who has accused Sommerfeld of being responsible for the police raid on the Mexican embassy in Quito on April 5. to capture former Vice President Jorge Glaswho had been granted asylum by Mexico shortly before his arrest.
Following the raid, Mexico broke off relations with Ecuador and reported it to the Court of Justice in The Hague, but the Ecuadorian government countersued, arguing that the country had provided protection to a person sentenced and wanted by the Ecuadorian justice system.
Speaking to The Associated Press, Kronfle said the process “can be understood as Ecuador imposing a sanction” on Foreign Minister Gabriela Sommerfeld prior to the trial at the International Court.
“We call for things to be handled with great care and prudence,” Kronfle said. He also said that “the defence of the country” must be considered first, but he did not give details about what consequences a possible dismissal of Sommerfeld could have before the Court of Justice in The Hague.
Jorge Glas, vice president of the Correa administration between 2013 and 2017 and of Lenín Moreno, from 2017 until January 2018, faces two prison sentences for corruption and has been summoned once again to court on a new charge of embezzlement.
Glas is being held in a maximum security prison in Guayaquil, where he was taken shortly after being detained at the Mexican embassy in Quito.
Kronfle also referred to the situation in Venezuela, saying that “we are concerned” and argued that when a government carries out an electoral process but does not deliver the minutes, does not allow the opposition to enter the premises to verify the information and proclaims itself the acting government, “then it becomes a dictatorship.”
“It is a bad example for Latin America, it is a terrible example for the entire world,” he said.
He added that what is needed now are sanctions that must be dealt with by the Organization of American States – which has not reached a consensus to demand the immediate publication of the minutes of the Venezuelan elections – and by the United Nations “which cannot allow the rights (of a people) to be violated, especially the right to choose their constituents.”
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